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<h1>The Wayward Wind</h1><h2>From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia</h2><h2><br></h2><h2>"<strong>The Wayward Wind</strong>" is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Country_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">country</a> song written by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Lebowsky" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Stanley Lebowsky</a> (music) and Herb Newman (lyrics),<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-500_Number_One_Hits-1" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[1]</a><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-Singer,_Composer_Meet_In_S.L.-2" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[2]</a> and first recorded by American singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogi_Grant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gogi Grant</a> in 1955, and released in 1956. Grant's version reached No.&nbsp;1 on both the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cash_Box_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Cash Box</em></a> charts, where it remained at No.&nbsp;1 for five weeks, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Billboard</em></a> charts, remaining at No.&nbsp;1 for six weeks, ending <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elvis_Presley" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Elvis Presley</a>'s seven-week run at No.&nbsp;1 with "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbreak_Hotel" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Heartbreak Hotel</a>".<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-3" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[3]</a> It remained in the top 10 for fifteen weeks,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-4" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[4]</a> and was ranked as the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Billboard_Year-End_Hot_100_singles_of_1956" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">No. 5 song for 1956</a> according to <em>Billboard</em>. It became a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_recording_sales_certification" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gold record</a>. Members of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_Writers_of_America" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Western Writers of America</a> chose the song as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-Top100-5" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[5]</a></h2><h2><br></h2><h2>Background</h2><p>The “Wayward Wind” of the title is a metaphor for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wanderlust" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">wanderlust</a>: an irrepressible urge to travel and explore. This is further emphasized by describing it as a "restless wind." In the context of the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/19th_century" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">19th century</a> setting of shanty towns and railroads, the Western United States was still largely unexplored by European <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Settler" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">settlers</a>. Concurrent to the era of lone <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cowboy" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">cowboys</a> on horseback, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_transcontinental_railroad" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">First transcontinental railroad</a> was built.</p><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gogi_Grant_-_The_Wayward_Wind_-_Cash_Box_1956.jpg" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><img src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/11/Gogi_Grant_-_The_Wayward_Wind_-_Cash_Box_1956.jpg/250px-Gogi_Grant_-_The_Wayward_Wind_-_Cash_Box_1956.jpg" height="110" width="250"></a></p><p>Notice in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cashbox_(magazine)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank"><em>Cash Box</em></a> magazine, July 1956</p><p>Steam trains were a gateway the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_frontier" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">American frontier</a> romanticized in literature, songs and film. The subject of the song is a young man who lives near train tracks; the sound of passing trains instills him with an irrepressible urge to travel. On his journeys he falls in love and attempts to settle down and lead a normal life, but the urge to wander is too strong. The phrase "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Next_of_kin" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Next of kin</a>”, which is a colloquialism meaning the person's closest living relative, may suggest that the wandering</p><p>man has no family or connection and will perhaps wander his entire life.</p><p>Originally recorded and sung in third person <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">narration</a> from the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narration" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">point of view</a> of the young man’s lover/wife, by female <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pop_music" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">pop</a> singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gogi_Grant" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gogi Grant</a>, the song is often adapted to male singers and sung in first person from the POV of the young man.</p><p>In 1956, other versions were recorded, including versions by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Ritter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tex Ritter</a>, and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Young_(disc_jockey)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jimmy Young</a>, with Ritter's version proving popular in England, reaching No. 8 on the UK charts. Ritter used the song to open his stage shows.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-6" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[6]</a></p><p>In 1961, Grant's recording was reissued and reached <em>Billboard</em> No. 50 and Cash Box No. 78. In 1963, a new recording was made by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Ifield" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Frank Ifield</a>, which reached No. 1 on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UK_Singles_Chart" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">UK Singles Chart</a> for three weeks duration.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-British_Hit_Singles_&amp;_Albums-7" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[7]</a></p><p>The song made the <em>Billboard</em> country chart in a version by Irish flautist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Galway" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Galway</a> with vocal accompaniment by American country singer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_(singer)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sylvia</a>. Produced in Nashville by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_Pursell" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Bill Pursell</a>,<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-8" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[8]</a> the single was released in 1982 and it rose to No. 57 in 1983.<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-9" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[9]</a></p><h2>In popular culture</h2><p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Neil Young</a> named Gogi Grant's recording as one of the five songs that most inspired him when growing up, noting that, "I think it was grade four, I heard this song and for some reason, I associate it with the school and the highway, and the railroad tracks going behind the school."<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wayward_Wind#cite_note-10" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">^[10]</a></p><h2>Notable cover versions</h2><ul><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tex_Ritter" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Tex Ritter</a> (1956) No. 28 (U.S.), No. 8 (UK)</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Young_(disc_jockey)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Jimmy Young</a> (1956) No. 27 (UK)</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Vincent" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Gene Vincent</a> on the album <em>A Gene Vincent Record Date</em> (1958)</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Everly_Brothers" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Everly Brothers</a> on the album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Both_Sides_of_an_Evening" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Both Sides of an Evening</a> (1961)</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patsy_Cline" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Patsy Cline</a> on the album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Showcase_(Patsy_Cline_album)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Showcase</a> (1961)</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Ifield" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Frank Ifield</a> (1963) No. 1 (UK), No. 16 (Australia), No. 3 (Ireland), No. 104 (U.S.)</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Galway" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">James Galway</a> featuring <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sylvia_(singer)" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Sylvia</a> (1982) No. 57 (U.S.)</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_Young" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Neil Young</a> on the album <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Ways" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Old Ways</a> (1985)</li><li><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anne_Murray" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Anne Murray</a> (1994) No. 7 (Canada)</li></ul><p><br></p>